


Out of Sight

by Kibu



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Drama, Ficlet, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 20:50:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2706284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kibu/pseuds/Kibu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shinjiro can see that something's bothering Akihiko and the others, but he can't figure out what's got everyone so down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of Sight

The trip from the dorms to Gekkoukan High School was oddly quiet. Even Junpei was unusually reserved. Not being much of a talker himself – especially not with all of these people around – Shinjiro didn’t try to strike up a conversation. He just sat next to Akihiko, who was fiddling idly with his boxing gloves while looking out the train window with a thousand-mile stare. It was like everyone had been draped with a heavy, wet blanket. Shinjiro, on the other hand, felt better than ever.

The weird silence lingered even after they arrived at the school and the Dark Hour kicked in. Tartarus rose high into the sky, looming huge and intimidating against the moon. They all trooped inside dutifully. Shinjiro cleared his throat roughly, but nobody seemed to take the hint for what it was.

“All right, everyone,” Mitsuru said, standing proudly in the middle of the foyer like she usually did. “Yamagishi and I will monitor you from outside. Everyone…” she faltered, and Shinjiro caught a glimpse of her confident mask slipping for just a brief moment. “Be careful in there,” she finally finished. It sounded like they weren’t the words she wanted to say, but they were the best she could find.

“Hey, what’s the matter with her?” Shinjiro asked Akihiko in an undertone. Quiet conversations sprung up between some of the others while everyone checked their gear. “Did I miss something?”

Akihiko looked away, pulling his gloves on and tightening the Velcro.

Shinjiro straightened from where he had been leaning on the stolen bus stop sign he used as an improvised weapon. It felt comfortable in his hands and he also loved the way it made Mitsuru’s eye twitch whenever she saw it. But there was something wrong with Akihiko, and that bothered Shinjiro more than he wanted to admit. “Aki? What’s with the cold shoulder?”

“Shinji…” Akihiko started, but sighed and shook his head instead of finishing the thought.

“Fine. If you don’t wanna talk about it, then whatever.” Shinjiro frowned, giving up on his attempts to talk to his unresponsive friend.

“Let’s go,” Minato said, tapping his sword against the side of his leg and ascending the staircase to the massive door in the very center of the room. For such a quiet and relatively unassuming guy, Minato had a commanding presence that even Shinjiro couldn’t deny. All of them, Shinjiro included, quickly finished up their preparations and followed Minato into the upper floors of the tower.

The floors of Tartarus were like a big maze. The most time effective way to explore them was to split up and explore in teams. As the others discussed how to partner up, Akihiko chose one of the dark, unexplored corridors.

“I got this,” Akihiko said with what was, to Shinjiro, obviously false confidence. Without giving them a chance to argue, he hurried off down the hallway alone.

“Don’t worry,” Shinjiro said. “I got his back.” He glanced back at Minato, but only saw lingering worry in their leader’s eyes.

Shinjiro didn’t have time to ask any questions if he wanted to catch up. He ran off after Akihiko, following the sound of his retreating footsteps.

When he finally caught up – why was Akihiko running? – Shinjiro found Akihiko in battle with a shadow.

“Out of my way!” Akihiko shouted, pulling his fist back and slamming it at full power into the mask face of the shadow. The shadow wailed, out of pain, surprise, or as some kind of uncontrollable physiological reaction, and melted away into nothing.

“Nice shot,” Shinjiro said, impressed. “Save some for the rest of us next time.”

Akihiko grunted in satisfaction, adjusting the tightness of his gloves before moving on. He was running again, his breath soon coming in sharp gasps as his feet pounded a hard rhythm on the dark floor.

“H-Hey!” Shinjiro exclaimed, running after him. “You tryin’ to leave me behind, or what?”

Akihiko didn’t waste his air on replying, instead letting out a war cry and repeating the mean right hook to the mask of an unsuspecting shadow that had been blocking the way forward. It screeched like the other one and vanished, leaving only Akihiko panting in the middle of the hallway.

“Aki? Seriously, what’s going on?” Shinjiro asked. Akihiko’s behavior was starting to freak Shinjiro out. He was a passionate guy, but he usually held onto some semblance of control. Fighting uncontrolled wasn’t proper training; or some bullshit like that.

“Did you see that, Shinji?” Akihiko asked breathlessly, bent over with his hands on his knees while he tried to catch his breath.

Even after racing after Akihiko – and keeping up with him, no less – Shinjiro didn’t feel winded. “Yeah, I saw. I’m right here, dumbass.” Shinjiro forced a laugh, trying to show the deep concern that had taken up residence in the back of his mind.

“Gotta find more,” Akihiko said, straightening up clenching a fist. “I’ll take every single one of them down and end this. You hear that, Shinji?!” he demanded, looking up at the ceiling. “I’m gonna put an end to this whole thing!”

“Aki?” Shinjiro’s panic meter rose several notches. “Aki, what the hell? I’m right here!” He walked to Akihiko’s side, half expecting Akihiko to just shove him away. “See? Right here.”

Akihiko doubled over on himself, arms hugged tight around his middle. A strangled gasp escaped his mouth and he fumbled to remove one of his gloves so he could press his bare hand over his eyes.

“Aki, are you – crying?” Shinjiro asked, even more alarmed and confused. “Hey, Aki… come on, just talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.” Shinjiro reached out to put his hand on Akihiko’s shoulder as just a simple reassurance.

Shinjiro’s hand went right through like passing through air.

“What the-?!” Shinjiro tried again, but just like before his hand passed through Akihiko’s shoulder without meeting any kind of resistance.

Akihiko swiped angrily at his eyes to dry them. “Focus on the shadows,” he said, taking a deep breath and strapping his glove back on. “I’m gonna take out a bunch of them, then I’m gonna come and tell you all about it, Shinji.” Akihiko tapped his gloves together, his resolve clearly returned to him.

“Why can’t you just tell me--” Shinjiro stopped, clapping a hand to his chest as a sharp pain seared through it. The pain brought memories along with it.

Suddenly, Shinjiro remembered everything.


End file.
